Whole grain products are known to be rich in dietary fiber and other nutrients. Although there are many health benefits associated with the consumption of whole grain products, many consumers avoid such products due to the relatively poor taste and color associated with whole wheat flours. This is especially true of children, who can be particularly selective in food choices.
Attempts to overcome these problems include use of ground-up white wheat rather than red wheat in an attempt to mask or reduce the bitter taste of the bran. However, the flour produced with these methods still has a bitter flavor and yields a baked product with a dark color.
It is generally believed that the presence of bran is a major cause of the taste and color problems associated with whole wheat flours. Bran contains phenolic compounds, which may be responsible for the bitter and astringent taste. Certain phenolic compounds, such as tannins, can impart a brown or even grayish color to flour, particularly flours made from red %% heat. Thus, conventional processes used to produce non-whole wheat or white products attempt to remove as much bran as possible during milling, although this is also removing a key nutritional component of the kernel. Specifically, bran not only contains fiber, but other healthy components that are known to be useful in preventing cancer, such as colon cancer.
Thus, there is a continuing need for whole wheat flours that can be used to provide finished whole wheat products that look and taste as good as those made with “regular” white flour. Also, there is a continuing need for bran products that are useful for addition to regular white or patent flour for the purpose of providing whole grain flours that are comparable to patent or white flours in taste, appearance and baking qualities, notwithstanding the presence of added bran in the flours.